As it plunged thousands of Maritimers into darkness over the weekend, outside one New Brunswick church post-tropical storm Arthur was powerful enough to wake up the dead.

On Sunday, parishioners outside St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in Saint John were examining a large fallen tree after mass when they noticed two human skeletons caught up in its roots.

“Once we discovered the remains, all of a sudden the group of people went very quiet,” said parishioner Greg Hughes.

In the hole formed by the fallen tree were the jawbones, ribs and skulls of two people.

“One of the bodies; their bones were entangled in the roots of the tree,” said Mr. Hughes’ wife Gail.

Local police were called to collect the remains, and as per CTV News Atlantic, they are currently being examined at Saint John Regional Hospital.

Although witnesses speculated the bones could be of Aboriginal origin, local historian Harold Wright told the National Post they most likely belong to two onetime residents of Portland, one of the historic communities now comprising modern-day Saint John.

From 1784 to 1880, Portlanders buried their dead in a non-denominational cemetery occupying the site of the fallen tree.

The Roman Catholic Church bought the land more than a century ago and exhumed the bodies to a different location. But with few grave markers, the exhumation was largely guesswork.

As result, Mr. Wright said the area remains notorious for yielding stray human remains.